Renton Technical College has received a $400,000 grant that will help medical workers climb their way up on the career ladder in a hospital.

RTC will develop the curriculum for the training, which will advance a certified nursing assistant to an emergency department technician and potentially to a nursing career.

There is a “big need” for emergency room technicians, according to Heather Stephen-Selby, dean of RTC’s Allied Health and Nursing program which will develop the curriculum.

The Hospital Employee Education and Training (HEET) grant was awarded by the State Board for Community and Technical Colleges (SBCTC) to meet the growing demand for more well-trained, health-care workers in Washington.

Technicians are particularly needed in emergency rooms.

The grant is one of five awarded using $1.5 million from the state Legslature.

Renton Technical has six partners in the program: SEIU Healthcare 1199NW, Highline Medical Center, Swedish Medical Center, Valley Medical Center, Highline Community College and Seattle Central Community College.

Renton Technical was chosen to coordinate the program because of its long history of creating customized training programs and enhancing employees’ academic backgrounds, according to Stephen-Selby.

The process is known as “career laddering.”

“We will ensure that the emmployee workers will be provided with the academic preparation so they can move on to nursing or to a medical lab,” she said.

The college has received multiple grants for such employee training, including a $430,000 grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation awarded nationally that provided training to front-office medical workers, such as receptionists, to become medical assistants.

The college’s health program is one of the largest in the state, according to Stephen-Selby. The classes are offered to part-time and full-time students.

The department trains medical assistants, pharmacist technicians, medical technicians and licensed practical nurses.

The new training is designed to “wrap around” the schedules of the roughly 35 workers, who will come from three hospitals. The students will start off with a basic curriculum that gives them some college preparation.

The grant ends in June, so by May, according to Stephen-Selby, the college has to prove it has produced “successful folks.” The idea, then, is to start a second class, this time focusing on non-native speakers.

“RTC’s expertise is with these students,” she said of the non-native speakers.